A Christmas Garland

by Max Beerbohm

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Pastiches of well known authors.

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4 reviews
2.5*

These short Christmas stories are well written but not what I had been wanting to read. I was looking for holiday cheer and/or sentiment; these are essentially parodies of various authors' writing styles. For those authors that I was familiar with (Kipling & Galsworthy to name two), the parodies were extremely apt. I would consider rereading this sometime when I am in a different mood (& now that I know what to expect).
These short Christmas stories are well written but not what I had been wanting to read. I was looking for holiday cheer and/or sentiment; these are essentially parodies of various authors' writing styles. For those authors that I was familiar with (Kipling & Galsworthy to name two), the parodies were extremely apt. I would consider rereading this sometime when I am in a different mood (& now that I know what to expect).
½
Beerbohm's parodies of other writers are pretty convincing - he's an excellent mimic - but generally I found the stories themselves weren't all that engaging.
Beerbohm's parodies of other writers are pretty convincing - he's an excellent mimic - but generally I found the stories themselves weren't all that engaging.

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84+ Works 3,607 Members
Henry Maximilian Beerbohm was born in England in 1872. In his twenties, Beerbohm became part of the literary circle of Oscar Wilde, and in 1898 he became the drama critic for the Saturday Review. His predecessor George Bernard Shaw recommended Beerbohm for this position supposedly because of Beerbohm's attacks on Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant, one show more of Shaw's own works. It was also Shaw who gave Beerbohm the nickname The Incomparable Max. Beerbohm was known primarily for his sharp wit, often expressed in parody and satire, His first book The Works of Max Beerbohm was a collection of essays in a mock-scholarly format. Other essay collections include Yet Again, And Even Now, Around Theatres, and Mainly on the Air, which was based on a series of radio broadcasts. His fiction includes one novel titled Zuleika Dobson: An Oxford Love Story and numerous short stories. Many of his short stories have been published in such collections as The Happy Hypocrite, Seven Men, and A Variety of Things. Beerbohm's flair for humor and parody was carried over into his art. He was a gifted caricaturist and was as well known for his drawings as for his writing. His drawings have been published in the collections Caricatures of Twenty-five Gentlemen, The Second Childhood of John Bull, A Book of Caricatures, Fifty Caricatures, Rosetti and His Circle, and Things Old and New. Beerbohm resigned from the Saturday Review in 1910 when he married Florence Kahn, an American actress, and they retired to Rapallo, Italy. The Beerbohms returned to England for several years during World War II, but in 1947 they returned to Rapallo where Beerbohm died in 1956. Beerbohm was knighted in 1939. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

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Hall, N. John (Introduction)

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Genre
Fiction and Literature
DDC/MDS
828.91208Literature & rhetoricEnglish & Old English literaturesEnglish miscellaneous writingsEnglish miscellaneous writings 1900-English miscellaneous writings 1900-1999English miscellaneous writings 1900-1945Prose
LCC
PR6003 .E4 .C5Language and LiteratureEnglishEnglish Literature1900-1960
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Members
116
Popularity
280,828
Reviews
4
Rating
½ (3.62)
Languages
English
Media
Paper, Ebook
ISBNs
10
ASINs
14